Tyranny is like the electric wiring in an old house. A tyrant dies, the new tyrant takes possession, and all he has to do is drop the switch.

The pharmaceutical corporations are engaged in the systematic corruption of the medical profession, country by country

And the ideologies trailed after these impossible events like condemned prisoners, as ideologies do when they've had their day. Because they have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.

Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.

For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.

Completing a book, it's a little like having a baby.... There's a feeling of relief and satisfaction when you get to the end. A feeling that you have brought your family, your characters, home. Then a sort of post-natal depression and then, very quickly, the horizon of a new book. The consolation that next time I will do it better.

You should have died when I killed you.